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TIFU by not knowing what a snow bird was

Saw a post about snow birds flooding Florida in winter and reminded me of this story.

Some back story; this happened years ago, I was 12 and we had just moved into a new apartment complex near the beach since my older sister was moving back in with my mom and I. I had a small dog (jack Russell terrier) that I always took walks everywhere. Now to the fuck up.

I was walking my dog around the new complex, getting a feel for the area seeing if anyone else my age was around to hang out. I did this daily, but never really saw anyone beside the older neighbors staring. I ended up sitting by the pool when this older lady comes up and starts talking to me.

She begins telling me she's the apartments manager and to make sure I'm picking up after my dog everywhere we go because the snow birds are beginning to come down and she doesn't want dog shit everywhere. Confused by what she meant I showed her my dog bags and agreed I was picking up after my dog.

After she left I started thinking, "man they get exotic birds in this area? That's so cool!" I ran home excited to tell my mom and sister the manager said they get snow birds here and that I need to pick up after my dog so they want to be here. My mom looked confused (now looking back it was disappointment) my sister busted out laughing and I didn't understand. I told her that birds are going to be in our backyard and how I can't wait to see what they look like running back outside.

That's when both my mom and sister should've told me what was up, but they didn't and let my stupid naive ass take my dog on longer more frequent walks so I could watch for these birds. Weeks go by and I still haven't seen any birds I didn't normally see. I start getting upset about when the hell they'll arrive since the manager made it seem like a huge deal.

So I'm sitting by the pool again, when an older guy this time comes in to swim. He makes small talk, what kinda dog, if I live here, when did I move, then he asks why I'm just sitting in the pool area and not swimming. I tell him I keep watch for the snow birds since I was told they would be flying in soon. He just laughs and says "snow birds, eh? I'm a snow bird myself" I asked what the hell he meant by he was a snow bird. He tell me the actual meaning of snow birds and how they're people from up north who fly down here for the winter to avoid all the snow.

I. Felt. So. Fucking. Stupid. I spent weeks looking for these stupid birds when the "birds" were just people. I google the meaning of everything ever since.

TL;DR - I thought snow birds were actually exotic birds from the north, found out it actually meant old people from the north

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